Vehicle-brake.



0. ZEBK. VEHICLE BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-28. I9I3.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

o. ZERK.

VEHICLE BRAKE. & APPLICATION FILED AUG-28, 1913.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 0. ZE RK.

.VEHICLE BRAKE. I APPLICATION FILED A UG.28. 1913. 1,179,691. l PatentedApr. 18,1916. v

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- I zz 4 /z n... I o 4 I 4; o Z0 ZZMW EFF/UR @g 0W 2WWWW I K37 fiWW/QUL J/ft UNITED. s'rA'rEs PATENT or CE.

OSCAR ZERK, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. I

VEHIC'LE-BRAKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR ZERK, a sub ect of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, re-

' siding' at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in.

Vehicle-Brakes, of which the following is afull, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. Thisinvention is for a vehicle brake.-

The principal object is to provide an emergency brake which may be.quickly applied to bring the vehicle to an abrupt stop in case of suddenobstruction in the roadway.

Another object is to provide a brake so effectii e that it may be usedto stop the vehicle on a very steep grade, thuseliminating the danger ofthe driver losing con- The means by which I accomplish these objects arehereinafter described in connec tion with the accompanying drawings anthe essential characteristics set forth in the claims. 1 i

The drawings illustrate my device as attached toan automobile with'which it is particularly adapted to be used. 1 In the' drawings, Figure1 is a side elevation of my device attached to a vehicle,'a

" portion ofwhich is shown. In' this view the parts comprising the brakeare shown in their idleposition; Fig. 2 is a similar view in which theparts are shown'in their operative position; Fig. 3 is a plan viewshowing my device attached to each of the rear wheels of a vehicle withthe parts in' operative position; Fig. 4 is-an end elevation of thesame, also showing the parts in their operative position; Fig. 5 is aside elevation of a modified form of my device, showing p a portion ofthe vehicle. In this view the parts are shown in their idle position, insolid lines, the operative position being indicated by broken lines.'Fig. 6 is an end elevation and Fig. 7 is a plan of the same, showingthe parts in their operative position.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

Application filed August 28, 1913. Serial No. 787,072.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the reference numeral 10indicates the rear wheels of an automobile, mounted in the usual mannerupon an axle surrounded by an axle housing 12. This housing 12 supportsthe frame 13 of the vehicle, by means of the usual springs, not shown.

Rotat'ably mounted upon the housing 12, adjacent to each rear wheel 10,is a block -15 having'flanges 16 engaging the sides of a yoke 17, rigidwith a lever 18. This lever 18 rigidly carries at its free end, a brakeshoe 20 preferably somewhat wedge shaped in form and having its endssuitably rounded, so that it may ride over small obstructions in theroadway when in operative position. The inner surface 22 of the brakeshoe may have substantially the same circumferential and transversecurvature as the tireof the wheel. The brake shoe is normally held awayfrom the surface of the tire, so that it does not contact with it whenthe wheel is running. A spring 23, mounted in the yoke between the block15 and the end of the yoke, presses outwardly on the lever to insure theshoebeing held away from the tire, as described. I prefer to make thesebrake shoes of a hard, rough, abrasive material, as for example naturalor artificial stone, which slides with great fricd' tion on smoothpavement or any sort of roadway. This insures the car or vehicle beingstopped very quickly as well as practically eliminating the danger ofskidding when the brake is applied, which the drivers of automobileshave found to bevery dangerous.

Mounted on the frame 13 are brackets 25 having outwardly extending arms26 carrying rubber bumpers indicated at 27. These bum ers 27 are adaptedto engage an upwar ly extending arm 28 of the lever 18 to limit therotary movement of the lever and cause the brake shoe 20 to be rigidlyheld in its operative position between the wheel and the ground.

I provide mechanism operable from the 'drivers seat to throw the brakeinto active osition. As shown, there are rods 30, pivotally attached tothe arms 28 of the levers 18, at one end, and at the-other end to rockarms 31 rigidly mounted on a rock shaft 32 which is suitably mounted inthe frame 13 of the vehicle. Another rock arm 33 rigidly mounted on thisrock shaft 32, is attached to a rod 34: leading forwardly and connectedby means of a chain 35 to the lower end ofthe operating lever 36. Thislever 36 is mounted adjacent to the drivers seat 38 of the vehicle,indicated by dot and dash lines in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be seen thatby pulling rearwardly on this lever the rod 34 will be drawn forwardlyrocking the shaft 33 and drawing the rods 30 and the arms 28 forwardlythus swinging the brake shoe 20. downwardly and rearwardly to a positionwhere it will be gripped between the wheel. and the. ground to stop thevehicle.

Forming a portion of the brackets 25 and extending rearwardly are arms40 carrying bumpers 41, against which the arms 28 of the brakeshoe-levers rest when .in inoperative position. A tension spring 42attached to this portion of the bracket and to the arm 28 tends to holdthe brake shoe'in the idle position shown in Fig. 1. If desired, eitherspring 23 or 42 may be omitted and a single spring relied -on to performthe 1 functions of both springs shown.

I The operation-of this form of my device is as follows: The driver onseeing danger ahead, grasps the lever 36 and pulls it rearwardly; Thisaction, through the rod-34, the rock shaft 32 and therod 30, swings thebrake. shoes rearwardly until they come into contact with the ground,whereupon the wheels of the vehicle ride up onto them. N ow-the upperarm 28 of the lever, coming into contact with the rubber bumper, limitsany further rearward 'movement of the brake shoe'with relation tothe'vehicle wheel and causes the brake shoe to slide along the groundwith a portion ofthe' weight of the vehicle resting thereon,'thus veryeflectually stopping its forward movement. brought suddenly toa stop,there is a backward rebound of the vehicle which causes the wheels toroll oil from the brake shoes and again rest upon the ground, allowingthe springs 42 to return the parts to their normally idle position.movement or rebound of the vehicle is assisted by the wedge shape ofthebrake shoes, which causes the wheels to have a tendency to rollbackward ofi from them.- onto the ground. If however, the vehicle isstopped on a sharp down grade, by means of this brake, and does'not,because of the grade, move backward off from the brake shoes, it is onlynecessary to reverse the engine, driving the vehicle backward a slight.dis tance allowing the wheels to roll onto the ground, and the partscomprising the brake to return to their normal position as described.There is a quick forward move- ,ment of the lever 18 from the pointWhere the brake shoe is gripped between the wheel and the ground, untilthe lever is brought to a stop against the rubber bumper. To

against After the vehicle has been thus This backward fied form of mybrake, which allows the brake to be released after it has been ap-'plied, before the vehicle has been brought to a complete stop. That is,the brake may be applied to bring the'vehicle very quickly from anycomparatively high speed to any desired slower speed and then releasedat the will of the driver, allowing the vehicle to continue in itsforward movement. .while the brake mechanism automatically resumes itsidle position. Inthis' form each arm of. the lever 18 carries a brakeshoe 20. These brake shoes are adapted to, be revolved about the wheelfrom a position in front of it to braking position, on the ground, andthen released, whereupon it revolves to idle position at the rearof thewheel. Any convenient number of brake shoes may be used, each one'inturn being brought to the forward side of the wheel,-

used for braking and then swung to the rear of the wheel, at the sametime bringing the nextone into readiness for use. In

place of'the springs 23, springs 45 are provided on each side of theblock 15 which press outwardly against each'end of the yoke 17.;These-,spr ings are so constructed that they balance one another, holdeachof the shoes 20 away from the wheel. Mounted on one side of the yoke17 and rigidly secured to it is a ring 46 which the lower arm 48 ofalever,

and normally pivotally attached to the frame 50, isadapted' to bear.'Rearward movement of this farm against the ring shoves the lever18-rearwardly' bodily and thus brings the brake shoe, standing at theright or forward at the side of the .wheel, into frictionalfengagementwith the tire, whereu on .the shoerevolves with the wheel- (in t edirection of the arrow in Fig. 5) from the normally idle position to theoperative position indicated by broken lines in this figure. The

lever 49 has anupwardly. extending arm 51, to which is pivotallyattached one end of a rod 52. This rod leads forwardly and is pivoted tothe lower arm 53 of a hand lever 55, adjacent to "the drivers seat. Thelever 55 is shown as pivotally mounted on a bracket 56 which hasatoothedsegment 57 adapted to be engaged by a dog 58, carried by the lever andcontrolled by the grip 59 adjacent the'handle thereof. When one of thebrake shoes is brought-to the operative position, by means of thehandlever 55 and the connections described, the opposite arm of thelever 18 engages a rubber bumper 60 (corresponding to the bumper 27 v ofthe: other form) carried on a slide 61 which is;

- way 62 is a mounted in a suitable gui-deway 62, rigidly secured to theframe 13. Extending through a slot 64 in the upper portion of thisguidepin 65 mounted on the slide 61. In engagement with this pin, is aslotted arm 66 of a lever pivoted at 67 andhaving a forwardly extendingarm 68. This arm 68 'is provided with a. longitudinal slot 69 throughwhich extends the rounded portion of the arm 51 of the lever 49. Nowthis slotted arm 68 extends diagonally across the path of the arm 51;accordingly when the arm'51 is. moved forwardly or backwardly it causesthe lever arm 68 to be moved toward or away from the frame of themachine, at the same time by means of the arm 66 moving the slide 61,carrying the bumper 60.

; the brake, the lever arm 'when the lever 49 is swung It will be seenthat by the described arrangement, whenthe arm 51 is moved forwardly, bymeans of the lever 55 to apply 68 will be moved inwardly toward themachine, and the slide 61 will be moved I outwardly bringing the bumperinto the path of one arm of the lever 18. The rotary movement of thislever will be thus stopped with one. of the'brake.

shoes between the wheel of the the ground. To hold the lever 18 normallyin a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 5, I provide a detent arm 70', rigidly carried by the lever 49, and having at its free end astraight edge 71 adapted to engage the yoke-portion 17 of the lever 18.This detent arm stands just out of the path of the arms 18, at the sametime being in alinement with the thickened portion of the yoke 17 Now tooperate the brake, the upper arm 51 of this leverswings forwardly, andthe detent arm is carried upwardly out of the path of the thickenedportion ofthe yoke 17, allowing the arms 18 to swing by the the brakeshoe with the wheel, as heretofore described. A suitable spring, as thespring 73 attached to the arm 48 and to the frame I 13 of the vehicle,causes a downward presposition,

sure on the edge 71 of the detent arm, thus normally holding the levercarrying the brake shoes in the idle position. This spring the lever andthe parts vehicle and frictional engagement of' connected therewith totheir normal or idle The operation of this form of my device is asfollows: The operator pulls the lever 55 rearwardly, causing the arm 48to engage the ring 46 and press one of the brake shoes 20 against theforward position of the tire of the wheel 10. lhis engagement causes thebrake shoe to revolve with the wheel until it is gripped between'the thewheel, thus raising the wheel entirely free from the ground. Now whenthe lever arm 48 swings rearwardly, the lever arm 68 isswung inwardly bymeans of the arm 51 after each application of the brake.

ground and the vehicle has been slowed down to a suit-' able speed, orcome to a stop, he has merely to releasethe dog 58 by means of the grip59 and push the lever 55 forwardly which through the connectionsdescribed movesthearm 66 to draw the bumper 60 out of the path of thelever 18 allowing the wheel to ride across the brake shoe, which thenrevolvesto idle position at the rear of the wheel bringing the otherbrake shoe into position for the next application of the brake andallowing the vehicle to continue in its forward movement. As soon as theparts are thus released, the action of the spring 73 brings the detentarm 70 against the yoke which stops the lever in its horizontal positioncamming it into that position if momentum has not carried it there,while the springs 45 automatically position the'brake shoes away fromthe surface of the wheel.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I have provided avery effi- "cient emergency brake, particularly adapted for automobiles.

.My device is simple to construct, comprises but few parts, and isreadily applicable to existing vehicles.

In the embodiment first described, my brake may be used to bring thevehicle to an abrupt stop at any time of danger, and the parts may bereadily replaced to inoperative position after the vehicle has beenstopped.

In the embodiment of the other form described, my brake may be used toabruptly retard the car in its forward progress while allowing thevehicle to proceed at any desired slower speed upon releasing the brake,or may be used to entirely stop the "ehicle. In either instance theparts automatically return to inoperative position upon the furthermovement of the vehicle, after releasing the brake. I

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1.- In a vehicle brake,--the combination of a brake shoe adapted toengage the vehicle wheel, an arm carrying the brake shoe slidably andpivotally mounted on an axle of &

adjacent to the drivers seat, means operated by said lever to cause thebrake shoe to be by said device for causing the brake shoe to be broughtinto engagement with the periphery of the wheel to move it from idleposition to aposition beneath the wheel, and a yielding stop'engagingsaid extension on said arm.

3. In a vehicle brake, the combination of a plurality'of brake shoesadapted to make a complete revolution on an axle'of the vehicle adjacentto a wheel, means for holdlng the brake shoes normally in idleposition,and means controlled from the seat of the driver for bringing a brakeshoe to a position between the wheel and the ground.

4. In a vehicle brake, the combination of a plurality of brake shoesrevolubly mount ed on an axle of the vehicle adjacent to a wheel, meansfor normally holding the brake shoes in idle position, and meanscontrolled from the seat of the driver for bringing one of said shoesinto operative position between the wheeland the ground, and a stop forholding said shoe in its operative position, said stop being movableinto or out of operatlve positio' 5. In a vehicle brake, the combinationof a plurality of brake shoes,

arms carrying said brake shoes pivotally mounted on .an

axle of the vehicle adjacent to a Wheel whereby they may be swung intoposition between the wheel and the ground, a movable stop adapted to bebrought into and out of the path of said arms, and means controlled fromthe seat of the driver, for deter: mining the position of the brakeshoes and said stop.

6. In a vehicle brake, the combination of a plurality of brake shoes,arms carrying said brake shoes adjacent the tire of a wheel, said armsbeing slidably and pivotally mounted on the axle of the vehicle adjacenta wheel, and means controlled from the seat of the driver for bringingone of said shoes against the tire to revolve it to a position betweenthe wheel and the ground.

7. The combination ina vehicle brake, of a plurality of brake shoes,arins carrying said brake shoes slidably and pivotally mounted upon anaxle of the vehicle adjacent a wheel, means for holding them normally inidle position, and means for bring- 'ing one of said brake shoes intocontact with the tire to revolve it to a position between the wheel andthe ground, and a slidable stop engaging one of said arms at a time'tohold a brake shoe in its operative. position, said stop and the positionof the brake shoes being controlled from the seat of the driver.

brake shoes into contact with the tire while running, said means beingoperated by a lever adjacent to the drivers seat, means controlled bysaid lever for normally holding "the brake shoes in idle position, and astop engaging one of said arms when one of the brake shoes is inoperative position, said Ttop being movable and controllable by saidever. a 1 Y 9. In a vehicle brake, the combination of a brake shoeadapted to make a complete revolution, on an. axle of" the vehicleadjacent to a wheel, means for holding the brake shoe normally in anidle position, and means controlled from the seat of the driver fordrawing the brake shoe to a position between the wheel and the ground.

10. In a vehicle brake, the combination'of a brake shoe mounted on anaxle of the vehicle adjacent to a wheel and adapted to,

make a complete revolution thereon, means for normally holding the brakeshoe in an idle position, means controlled from the seat of the driverfor drawing one of said shoes 7 into operative position betweenthewheel. H and the ground, and a stop for holding said shoe in itsoperative position, said stop being movable into or out of operativeposition.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiixmy signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

I osoAR ZERK. Witnesses:

ALBERT -H. BATES, BRENNAN B. WEST.

